New Medicines (2004)

"There's a glossary of dirty words for people just like you.
And only for people like you, I reserve the words:
Backstabbers and money whores, and dirty rotten millionaires
that always wanted more."

This is the chorus of "Taste The Red Hands," the first track off Dead Poetic's New Medicines. While I give the band points for using the word "whore" in a song and not having it be a cheesy pop-punk track about an ex-girlfriend, I must also point out this chorus' main flaw - it tells you exactly what the band sounds like for the rest of the album:

There's screaming [but in their defense, it's never too much, and it doesn't sound forced or fake].

The music is heavy but keeps a strong sense of melody, with lots of mini-breakdowns scattered across it's landscape [ala a more concise Thursday]. You know what this sounds like.

Recorded by Aaron Sprinkle, you pretty much know how this sounds like what it sounds like. The sound is that of instant recognizability, even if you've never even heard of Dead Poetic before.

Since it's on Solid State, you know that the band will be skirting around the issue of Christianity [see the very Passion-Of-The-Christ-like "The Dreamclub Murders"].

You've already formed a pretty good idea of just what Dead Poetic brings to the table. But I'm not willing to write them off so easily. This record, while long and a bit bland at points, shows a lot of potential and definitely delivers on intensity and energy, something a good majority of their peers in this "emotional post-hardcore" field sorely lack. If the group can just consistantly hone that energy and turn it into stronger songs like "Taste The Red Hands" and "New Medicines," they'll have a strong future atop marquees nationwide.